Wednesday, March 7, 2012

For those of you keeping up with my facebook at all, I packed one bag full of clothes, and the other I paid $75 dollars for and packed it with nothing but freedom, so it'd last me til I get back.

Damn Im gonna miss 'Murrica.

Recap of Winter:(below the pics are my updates on life/travel)

I'll make this quick. I came back to the U.S. mainly to...

...spend time with my girlfriend

the yearly christmas weekend at nicoles.

enjoying a christmas stogie at Rockefellaaaa

...compete in a dance competition that Boston University's team asked me to join them in

...tutor foreign students in English, and learned the age old mystery that all asians when they give the peace sign... well.. they said it was just a "pose." your welcome for de-mystifying the world.

...and to see my little brothers 6th birthday, even though he was upset because he only got books. Just look at that lower lip.

... but then he was happy because we got to take silly pictures...

... and more silly pictures

... and more silly pictures

we took so many silly pictures that night i cant even count.

bro'd out a lil bit

*x-mas party at Malchand's = epic. I ask Mr. Malchand for more red wine. He comes back upstairs 20 minutes later and opens a bottle of burbon, because it was red. Too funny. Worst tasting shit ever. We got fucked up.

3 Updates on my life:

(1) - I am at an interesting point in my life; I am kind of in limbo. I applied to grad schools, and am waiting to hear back. So even if I get in, I applied to schools in the Middle East, Europe, and #1. Who who knows where the hell I will be.

(If I get in, I expect a lot of beers to celebrate. If I dont get in, I expect even more beers so that I can hardly remember I even applied)

(2)- Ill be doing more traveling in Europe. In two weeks Im heading to Budapest, Hungary. I don't really know what's there yet, but I guarantee you that if there are any transvestite whores, or litre-beer drinking festivals, I will sniff them out.

(3) - It's been rough spot leaving my girlfriend back in the US. We had a wonderful time, and are still trying to work through things while I'm out here. Deciding to travel out here comes at a tole.

We just talked last night about it, and we decided to play it as things come at us. The odds have never never been on our side, but through adversity and mistakes, we have always beaten the odds.

I am hearing a lot of criticism about KONY 2012. My argument is that in general I am against the criticism, and pro- Invisible Children and KONY 2012.

(If you dont know what Im talking about, follow the links at the bottom of this post to find out abt it and also the criticisms)

Let me summarize the criticisms for you:

They say that there are three main issues with KONY 2012:

criticism1) That Invisible Children spends not enough of their percentage of money on strictly humanitarian aid and

criticism 2) IC favors U.S. ground intervention of our troops.

criticism 3) IC's money is supporting other corrupt militia in Africa to take care of things.

To address criticism #1

I think is invalid... IC clearly states that one of the main solutions to this is to promote the problem. How do you do that? Well, IC has become excellent at it. They make films, they utilize young people and social networks to spread them, and they advertise. So to say that millions of dollars and half of the money they spend is wasted is not correct. Is the money DIRECTLY going to the kids? No. However, I believe that IC's argument is that if you tell millions of people in the world about the problem, THAT is the solution, and it will eventually bring governments to help solve the problem quicker, whereas if you gave 100% of proceeds to the children themselves, it would help them on the immediate term, but only more and more funds would need to endlessly come in. So, IC is making the best of both words. They are sending millions in to help the kids, while also paying millions for awareness.

Another big problem is criticisms rarely point to better solutions. Some point to other organizations... but my question is, why do I know about IC and I dont know about them? Its because IC has paid for the advertisement, and its paying off. After all, why are we all talking about it now? They are succeeding.

To address criticism #2

I am very hesitant to say U.S. military intervention will help us. The bottom line is that sometimes it turns out good, sometimes it turns out bad. The US is hesitant because of what happened in Somalia during the Clinton administration. I wouldnt wanna lose our boys like that again.
So, I think that argument is valid. But the money thing above? I think thats from people that dont understand how to market a product well, while also directly helping the problem at hand.

To address criticism #3

Im not sure if this criticism is even true at all... IC I believe has denied it completely.

The bottom line:

IC is not perfect. But I think they are on the right track. I dont think the argument about the money is a solid one for the reasons mentioned above.

Please feel free to respond, and I will post your responses on this page for all to see.

About Me

I just arrived in Nicaragua to spend my next two years with the Peace Corps. A little bit about me is that my 5 loves in life (beyond my steadfast faith in God) are traveling, meeting new people, learning new languages, experiencing new cultures, and dancing. Because hell, if youre not dancing in life, youre just sitting on the sidelines.